‘I tried to tell them’: Manager warned his players how good Leeds were

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Leeds United were unlucky to lose at Arsenal on Monday, which sums up their direction under Marcelo Bielsa.

Mikel Arteta has revealed that he warned his Arsenal players all about Leeds United ahead of last night’s FA Cup encounter.

The Gunners survived a big scare to beat Marcelo Bielsa’s side 1-0 and move into the fourth round of the competition.

For large spells, particularly the first half, it was Leeds who looked like the home team and the Premier League team.

Arsenal couldn’t live with the Whites’ intensity and movement, culminating in Bielsa’s side having 15 shots in the first 45 minutes.

The Elland Road club are leading the way in the Championship this season and overseen by a head coach who has fans in Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino.

And Arteta has revealed that he studied Leeds’ style in preparation of the game and warned his players what would happen.

He said to BBC Sport: “I tried to tell them exactly what they were going to face and after 32 minutes we had won one duel.

“Sometimes they have to experience themselves how tough and how hard it is going to be. I watched a lot of Leeds games and they battered every team every three days.”

These comments just sum up Leeds’ class and, more significantly, where they’re going.

They have a nine-point cushion in the automatic promotion places, and if they can out-play Arsenal in North London then United, if and when they come up, are going to be a major problem for a lot of Premier League sides next season.

Arteta, by his own admission, did plenty of research and even he couldn’t stop the first-half onslaught, which is ominous for other top-flight managers next term.